World

As Crimea Celebrates a Crucial Vote, Uncertainty Fills the Streets

A man holds a Crimean flag in front of the Crimean parliament building on March 17, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. People in Crimea overwhelmingly voted to secede from Ukraine during a referendum vote on March 16 and the Crimean Parliament has declared Independence and formally asked Russia to annex them.

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea — Women shouted to each other from the train station in Simferopol, Crimea, on Monday morning. "Happy holiday!" they cheered. Around town, cars with Russian flags flying out their windows solicited honks and enthusiastic waves from the crowd.

In a referendum on Sunday, Crimea voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and "reunify" with Russia. The vote, which was organized less than a month after former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from office, was condemned by the United States. In fact, Ukraine's interim government, along with the U.S. and the European Union, have declared the referendum illegitimate and refused to recognize Crimea's bid to become part of Russia.

A Russian flag now flies over Simferopol's main administrative buildings. On Monday, Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as a sovereign state, according to Russian news agencies. The Ukrainian hryvnia will slowly be phased out, replaced by the Russian ruble; through the end of 2015, both currencies will be accepted in Crimea.

The country will also transition to Moscow time on March 30, according to a tweet from the Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov:

"We've waited for this moment for so long," said Tatiana Timofeyeva, 50, a music teacher who moved to Crimea about 20 years ago from Russia. Post-referendum, she's sure life will improve. On Monday afternoon, Timofeyeva stopped by Lenin Square, where pro-Russians were celebrating, to read new fliers taped onto storefronts near the steps of the square's Lenin statue. "The West just doesn't get it," she said. "People in Crimea want to be part of Russia."

Sweet freedom. Two girls let doves free into the air on Simferopol's main square on Monday afternoon in celebration of Crimea's referendum and the peninsula's decision to "reunify" with Russia. Western powers did not recognize the Sunday referendum as legitimate. #crimea #ukraine #russia

According to Crimea's team of election observers, 81.3% of all Crimeans participated in the snap election — a very high voter turnout — and some 95% of those voters were in favor of joining Russia. A good turnout in the U.S. is above 50%; approximately 57.5% of voters participated in the 2012 U.S. elections.

But not everyone agrees.

"The whole referendum is just insulting," said Vlad, 27, a native Crimean who withheld his last name due to safety concerns. He did not participate in Sunday's referendum — rather, he sat at home and cried. Watching Russia just come in and take over in Crimea without invitation, he said, was just depressing.

"It's not that I was against Russia; in fact, I used to be for Russia," Vlad said. That is, until he saw Russian troops slowly creeping into Crimea with no admission from Russian President Vladimir Putin that they had done so. "That spoiled my faith in the political system entirely," Vlad added. Looking around nervously, he admitted he was worried about the future of freedom of speech if Russia were to annex Crimea. Already, a collection of men in unmarked fatigues, military vehicles and a burly crop of self-defense units loom around Simferopol, making him scared about what's next.

Russia and Ukraine declared a truce until March 21, allowing the two countries time to negotiate the exact proceedings in relation to Crimea since Ukrainian soldiers are still serving in military bases there. However, it's unclear how long that truce will last — or if has any truth behind it.

Late on Monday, the new Ukrainian government in Kiev announced that would not remove troops from Crimea and is instead preparing for war.

In the meantime, it seems increasingly unlikely that the West will take any measures aside from sanctions to prevent Russia from slowly rearranging the Crimean government under Moscow's supervision.

Unrest along Ukraine's eastern border with Russia, in the Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkiv regions, have taken on new importance as Ukraine fights to preserve its territory and reform its government.

A poster taped to a tree outside the Crimean Parliament building during the election on Sunday offered words of support: "Hang in there." The meaning was clear: These regions could be next to break away from Kiev.

Katherine Jacobsen is a Kiev-based freelance journalist. Before she bought a one-way ticket east, she was with The Christian Science Monitor in Boston covering tech stories and national news. Katherine has a Master's degree from Columbia's School of ...More

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